Morgan Hill
First-year Sobrato football coach Albert King doesn’t mince words. Before the nine Bulldog spring practices began in May, King knew only one thing was certain: Sobrato was going to be young in 2013.
After the conclusion of those nine practices, King said the team’s ceiling is higher than he imagined.
“We have a lot of young kids and men that are coming up,” King said. “And without a doubt, they showed a ton of maturity. This year, we are going to have to work extremely hard to get on the winning side of things. I’m looking for some big things out of these guys. They are definitely sponges and are soaking up everything that we are teaching them.”
King used the nine spring practices to help build an early identity for the Bulldogs, which was highlighted by hard work and dedication, he said. With such a young team – only 13 players will return from last year’s 8-4 squad — it was important what was needed from the team. So far, they’ve responded.
“What I’m hoping to see is growth,” he said. “You know, we came out knowing we were going to be very young. It was how quickly are they going to adapt? How quickly am I going to find the leaders that I need? It looks like I’m finding the things that I was looking for.”
So far, the leadership has come from those returning players, such as soon-to-be senior Andrew Mesa, King said. Last year’s starting safety has played a key role in establishing the team’s tempo and mindset through the spring practices.
“He is playing at a completely different level right now,” King said. “A different speed.”
Mesa hopes that leadership and fast mentality rubs off throughout the summer and season, he said. If it does, Mesa believes the team could be even better than last year’s team, which was the school’s best.
“I think we can actually do it,” he said. “We have to work on our line and getting quicker. We are a little slow right now. But if we practice hard over the summer and training — like we are — we will be fine.”
And through the spring, the younger players have been impressive,” he said.
“We lost a lot of seniors from last year, but a lot of these younger guys are ready to fill the spots,” Mesa said.
That mindset has already allowed the Bulldogs — which had 53 players during spring practice — to establish more depth. Unlike last year, King expects players to play on only one side of the ball, so building depth has been an important factor during the spring.
“I think we are going to have depth,” he said. “That’s something we haven had a ton of. It seems like we have a lot of depth going. Like I said, every one of them brings something different to the table and they are maturing fast.”
Going into the summer, King expects the team to remain focused on the upcoming season by staying in shape and sharpening their skills, he said.
“We going to stay mentally sharp and physically sharp,” King said. “We talked about some of things that they want to accomplish themselves. This is what we are doing for ourselves. This is what we are doing for our team. They are asking me can they send me things to study. They are asking what they can do. The beauty of being so young is that they want to learn so much so fast. We have to curb that appetite but we want to give them what they need.”
